Cherkizovo Group, ranked as Russia's top meat producer, has shipped poultry meat to Egypt for the first time after receiving a license from the African country in April.

The company said the first batch of 270 tonnes was shipped from Cherkizovo's Chicken Kingdom poultry farm in the Lipetsk region. By yearend, total shipments to Egypt are expected to reach 10,000 tonnes, it added.

Aside from the Chicken Kingdom poultry farm, Cherkizovo's two other poultry farms-the Vasilevskaya in the Penza region and the Lisko-Broiler in the Voronezh region - also received their licence to export poultry products to Egypt, also in April.

The production process at the three facilities has also been certified by the Halal Center of Moscow, which means these facilities fully adhere to Islamic rules regarding the slaughter of animals. The General Organisation of Veterinary Services of the Ministry of Agriculture and Melioration of the Arab Republic of Egypt has also confirmed Cherkizovo's adherence to halal standards.

"Beginning shipments of our poultry products to Egypt marks an important milestone in our journey to expand into export markets", said Sergey Mikhailov, CEO of Cherkizovo Group.

He added that the company may next export its products to the UAE, which has already granted it a licence to export, and that it is in the "process of entering new markets in the Middle East, South Eastern Asia and Africa".

Cherkizovo Group was one of the first Russian agricultural companies in its segment to enter export markets. The company re-engineered its poultry production process to meet Middle Eastern standards and to produce smaller broilers weighing 1-1.2 kg. They are shipped to Egypt in frozen form under the newly created export brand, Dajajti.

Cherkizovo has come first in Agroinvestor's ranking of Russia's top 20 meat producers of 2015.